


Assembling

by appending_fic



Series: Guardians of the Universe [1]
Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Psychological Trauma, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-05
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2017-12-17 19:09:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/871013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/appending_fic/pseuds/appending_fic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The spirit of Nightmare has been soundly defeated, and the Guardians' world drifting toward something like a Golden Age. But Pitchiner has left to the dark corners of the universe to hunt the remaining shards of Nightmare's spirit, and Aster's old friends decide to follow him, tracking down the old inhabitants of the Great Prison and doing what the people of the Golden Age couldn't - bring an end to the evil that haunted the universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Boredom

Delphinium wasn’t your ordinary man. For one thing, he was a Pooka - a seven-foot-tall lapine alien species with an ordinary lifespan that could be measured in eons. For another, he was best friends with the Easter Bunny - the de facto leader of the newly-revitalized Pooka race, even if his mother could still make him cower with a word. And for another, he wasn’t content to remain in one place. Especially a place as boring as the Warren. He was happy Aster - the aforementioned Easter Bunny - had settled down, even if it was with a human who would never be able to give his mother grandkits. And he supposed he was happy that Pitch Black, the being engendered when the spirit Nightmare possessed Kozmotis Pitchiner, had been thoroughly vanquished, along with the Fearlings that had been his minions.

After all, with Pitch gone, the Nightmares had fled from Earth. There were plenty of things to be frightened of, but the urgency of Pitch’s fear had been destroyed, and irrational, paralyzing fear was losing its grip on humanity. He’d read one of the papers recently questioning the sharp drop in phobias and traumatic stress somethings or other in the world.

So things were good.

Delphinium, however, was not content with that. Some would say he had wanderlust, or was an inveterate troublemaker.

But it was exactly the opposite. Delphinium remembered little of his time spent as a Fearling, a creature of Nightmare, and one of the great plagues of the universe, together with the Dream Pirates, and others lost to history. But he knew enough that there had been the awareness of more shadows scattered across countless worlds, other fragments of Nightmare, and the other inhabitants of the Great Prison.

So he was hunting down Protea, something that was much harder than it should have been, given that Protea was one of his best friends.

Delphinium had tracked him to some dumb little college town, and was walking the streets (let’s be honest - street) shaped like a 19-year-old girl, sniffing out the traces of his friend. He found Protea sitting at the...only cafe the town had (seriously, this place was dead), as pale in human form as he was as a Pooka. The shape was slender, male, and bent over a cup of something steaming.

Delphinium dropped into the seat across from Protea. “Hey, gorgeous, looking for a good time?”

“What do you want, Del?” Protea asked, not even looking up.

Delphinium scowled. “It’s creepy how you do that.”

“You wear enough masks and you learn to see beneath them,” Protea said, distracted. He dipped a white finger into the cup and then licked it thoughtfully. “Anyway, what are you here for? I have things to do.”

“I’ve got big plans, Tea,” Delphinium said. He scooted forward on his seat, unable to contain his excitement. “You know how Aster had to show us up by raising people from the dead and getting his boyfriend to exorcise evil from an entire planet as a marriage proposal?”

“Somehow that managed to escape me,” Protea said. He leaned back, pausing long enough to meet Delphinium’s eyes and roll his own. “Get to the point.”

“Anyway, you know how they say Pitchiner went off to fight the remnants of Nightmare?”

Protea’s demeanor shifted almost instantly as he sat forward, leaning heavily on the table as red eyes peered intently at Delphinium. “Yes...”

“So, we were a platoon, Tea!” Delphinium exclaimed. “We didn’t train to sit around on a planet that doesn’t have anything to worry about anymore. We trained to go out into the universe and fight. You, me, and Glady - we could start a new Golden Age!”

“The three of us,” Protea said flatly.

“The three of us together,” Delphinium clarified.

“And what has Gladiolus had to say about all this?”

“Ah...”

“You haven’t asked her yet,” Protea accused, glowering at Delphinium with his sharp red eyes that never changed between forms.

“Well-”

“Because she’d say you’re mad,” Protea declared. He settled back in his seat, looking up at the sky, away from Delphinium. “I think you are, too.”

Delphinium slipped closer and tried to offer Protea wide, pleading eyes. “Come on. Don’t you wonder what’s going on out there? Don’t you want to be remembered for doing something great?”

“We’ll all be killed,” Protea said flatly. “Or worse.”

When Delphinium didn’t move, still leaning close to the other Pooka, Protea sighed. “If you get Gladiolus on board, I’ll come along. Just to make sure the two of you don’t get into trouble.”

Delphinium bounced out of his seat and squeezed Protea in a tight hug. “You won’t regret this, Tea!” He bounded off to find Gladiolus, pointedly ignoring the muttered, “Fat chance,” behind him.

Gladiolus was much easier to find. She and Nicholas St. North had found a common interest in their love of swordplay. She’d picked up one of the long human swords with the slight bend to them, obviously favoring their similarity to Pooka folded blades. She’d also wheedled a spark of the Light from the Beginning of the Universe out of Aster, giving the otherwise black blade the strange sheen of a starlight sword. Or it would, if it didn’t gleam with rainbow light on occasion. 

So it was a good assumption, especially during the summer months, that Gladiolus was at the Workshop at the North Pole, fighting with Santa Claus.

Delphinium took a shortcut through the Warren, grateful he made the trip without running into Aster or Jack. Not that they weren’t lovely people, but this quest was...a little more than he was willing to discuss until it was a done deal. Aster was so different from what he had been, and was so overprotective of the other Pooka. One hint of danger, and he’d start puffing up and trying to force everyone to safety, even the old warriors, Pooka who had trained the people who trained Aster.

So Delphinium doubted he’d be on board with the plan where Del took two other Pooka into unexplored space to hunt nightmares.

Finding Gladiolus was, in fact, quite easy. She nearly took his left ear off with a wild swing as he stepped through the door of the Workshop. Even as it was, he lost a tuft of fur as the sword passed over his head and slammed into the now open door.

Sharp green eyes narrowed at Delphinium. Another reason the Santa human had taken to her, he thought, was her color scheme. The reddish-fur and green eyes matched the decor around the shop. And her size nearly matched his own, towering over Protea and edging on surpassing Aster.

Really, if she weren’t such a softie, he’d be frightened of her.

“Hey, Glady,” he offered.

Gladiolus wrenched the blade out of the woodwork and gave it a careful examination. “You’re just lucky I didn’t nick this. Nick spent hours getting this just right, and I’d hate to ask him to redo his work. What are you doing here, Del?”

Delphinium took a step around Gladiolus, making sure he was inside the workshop proper and that he could easily avoid careless swings of any weapons; he saw Nicholas in the background, swords sheathed as if he and Gladiolus hadn’t been trying to slice each other to pieces a minute ago.

“Well, can’t a bunny visit his best gal for no reason?”

“A bunny can. You can’t. Just spill the beans, Del. I don’t have all day.”

Delphinium felt his ears fall back at the wave of disappointment. She wasn’t in a good mood, which meant she wasn’t likely to agree.

“Maybe I could come back later-”

“Out with it, Delphinium Bigwig.”

Delphinium winced and felt his ears swivel back further, and damn it, he’d managed to annoy her more, or she wouldn’t have used his full name. “Well, it’s not really, it’s just a thing-” He realized he was babbling and tried to straighten, give her a confident look. “Protea and I were talking about this whole Nightmare thing. How bits of it are scattered across the universe, with things like Malevolence, Chaos-”

Gladiolus hadn’t been looking at Delphinium, but one of her ears twitched toward him as he spoke. “Yeah?”

“And I was thinking. What if, instead of hanging around here, we went out to find those things, try to knock them out of existence altogether?”

“Hm.” Gladiolus glanced at Nicholas, who gave her a strange expression Delphinium couldn’t read; humans were so weird, with their lack of ears and reliance on those bald faces. “You’ve had some stupid ideas before, Del. But this one’s actually pretty good. Could use some improvement, though.”

“Oh?” And there was a little twinge. She was going to demand they take Nicholas along. Or worse, Aster. He’d hoped this journey would be an opportunity for the three of them to reconnect, act like a platoon again.

“You and Protea would get yourselves killed heading out there alone. You’re going to need a heavy hitter.”

“Ah, what?” Delphinium rose a little, his chest hitching in hope.

“You’re not going without me,” Gladiolus stated.

Delphinium couldn’t help the flick of his ears straight up and the ill-advised rush toward the sword-wielding Pooka. Luckily, years of experience with Delphinium had evidently trained her to avoid skewering him and putting an end to the adventure before it started.

Ha! And Protea thought she’d call him crazy.

“You are aware, though, this is utterly insane.”

Well, at least she said yes.


	2. On Our Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a little advice, the Pooka are on their way

“I’m afraid nothing I can get access to easily is much help in traveling between the worlds. It’s not something many people do.”

Protea nodded as he followed Miss Susan, who was only slightly less competent than Willow, the librarian of the Pooka homeworld, who had died ensuring the entirety of Pooka knowledge escaped the razing of the capital. Nicholas had advised they seek out her advice in the important question of how to travel between worlds.

Delphinium was trailing behind Gladiolus, looking bored. “But aren’t you a world-traveling librarian?” he asked.

Miss Susan shrugged. “Yes. But I wouldn’t advise you try that unless you know anything about the n-dimensional Dewey Decimal System.”

“What?” Delphinium’s eyes were comically large as he boggled at Miss Susan.

“Exactly,” she concluded smugly. She glanced back at Protea. “Did you have any thoughts?”

“Well, I’ve heard of creatures capable of...crossing dimensions.” Protea tried to dig up the exact passage he’d read. “Some sort of race of invisible thieves?”

Miss Susan had paused, and at Protea’s words, slowly lowered her head, resting it on her raised palm. “Please tell me they weren’t pixies.”

“Oh, no, I distinctly remember they weren’t pixies,” Protea replied. “Oh! I think they were called the Nac-”

“Mac Feegle,” Miss Susan concluded. “Let’s...put off asking them for advice. Among other things, the crawstep is all about the ankles, and I’m not certain how well lapine physiology meshes with that.”

Behind them, Delphinium had slammed his head into a bookshelf. Protea rolled his eyes and peered at the pile of books Miss Susan was carrying. None looked particularly helpful, but then again, Miss Susan’s books often seemed strange and arcane.

“But now that you mention it...come on, Protea. Gladiolus, please try to keep Delphinium from tearing the books apart.” Protea trailed after Miss Susan as she followed an apparently random path through the shelves of L-Space that lurked behind every library. Shelves took on old, sinister appearances, and something about the shadows made Protea’s skin crawl. “Be careful,” Miss Susan said crisply. “The Vashta Nerada are tame compared to some of the things in the library. One of the reasons I don’t encourage your friends to use it as a means of transport. This, however...might be more to your liking.”

The book Miss Susan produced was old, bound in leather or something like it. The surface cracked as she moved it, and Protea could see a trio of symbols carved into the cover: something like hearts?

Miss Susan snapped the book open, cracking the spine and sending shards of leather to the ground about their feet. “Just as I thought,” she said, triumphant. “The Pathways of Darkness.”

“The...”

“It’s a method of travel for which you are uniquely qualified to use.” Miss Susan gave Protea an askance look before adding, “It’s likely Pitchiner has used the same path, now that I think on it.”

“And...what is it?”

“The ways used by creatures of darkness to travel between worlds. Not as quick as the crawstep, and not as comfortable as riding Binky, but efficient.”

And, Protea thought, given that their plan involved tracking down the monsters that lurked in the dark corners of the world, following the paths those creatures carved through the world would be immensely helpful.

Miss Susan’s book was quite descriptive on the pathways of darkness, on the places to seek out holes in the universe. Beyond the chapter or so discussing them, Protea found musings on the nature of darkness, things that awoke painful half-recalled memories from the depths of his consciousness. Darkness could consume and burn a soul, and could awake awesome powers in the spirit. The thought of the sort of man who could have delved into those musings terrified him.

But when he returned to Gladiolus and Delphinium, he put on a brave face. Gladiolus, leaning against a bookshelf, uncrossed her arms, revealing flashes of the crosses tattooed on her forearms. She offered a wide, sharp-toothed grin.

“You got our ticket out of here?” she asked.

“Yeah. But first we gotta see North. And then...we’re off to Pitch’s.”

_Dear Nick,_

_We’re sorry about all this. Aster’s going to be a right mess when he finds out. But you have to tell him, North, that he’s done his part. And we’ve got to do ours. Pooka are meant to fight, and for all there’s been a blow against the Dark, there’s still something out there. We’ll be fine, North.”_

“Everyone packed?” Protea asked.

The darkness of Pitch’s lair enveloped the three Pooka, such that Delphinium and Gladiolus were just tall, dim shapes in the gloom. A glint of light washed over red fur, and Gladiolus chuckled. “I’ve got everything I need.”

The other shape, slender and looming, drifted close, and Protea felt the faint breath of Delphinium sniffing at him, reminiscent of how Del had always checked up on Protea, never trusting Protea’s own opinion on the matter.

“Ready to go,” Delphinium announced, securing a bandolier studded with small pockets around his chest. “Any idea where we’re going?”

“None!” Protea said. “Isn’t this exciting?”

“Are you okay?” Gladiolus asked, voice slightly high in worry. “That sounds like something Del would say.”

“Come on,” Protea replied. “He’s right; this is what we’re meant to do. Okay, everyone, keep your hands and feet inside the dark channel between worlds-”

He wrenched at the soft spot in the universe and...

It wrenched back. The book hadn’t mentioned that traveling between universes felt like having your body twisted like a Twizzler and forced through a hole a quarter-of-an-inch wide.

When the world stopped spinning and the sounds of Delphinium’s retching faded, Protea took a careful look around. They were in a garden, a place half-wild, and half-tamed, full of plants he remembered from back home. Things that could be used to bottle fame, brew glory, and put a stopper in death-

“Protea,” Gladiolus said in a sotto voce. “We’re being watched.”

He froze, crouching, and saw Delphinium do the same. Gladiolus was already trying her hardest to blend into her surroundings; Del, as he always had, moved to create a screen for Protea, whose pale fur and red eyes stood out everywhere.

“Hello?” The voice didn’t sound menacing, but none of the Pooka responded. You never could tell, with voices, whether a creature meant well or ill. The eyes were a good place to start, but if the creature was dangerous, getting close enough to see its eyes was a mistake...

Delphinium herded Protea into a patch of honeysuckle, where a willow drooped in a net of fernlike branches. Gladiolus drew one of her swords slowly, silently-

“Expelliarmus!” The sword spun from Gladiolus’ hand and slammed hilt-deep into the trunk of an ancient oak.

“Petrificus totalis!” A woman, not quite old but closer to middle age than her teens, stepped into view. She wore a long, loose black cloak, her face framed by wispy blond hair, and for the crown of flowers she wore and the strange pendant dangling around her neck, Protea would have thought her harmless.

Except she’d disarmed Gladiolus, and now held his friend at...wandpoint, it seemed, if the way she held that stick of wood was any telling.

Well, he thought grimly. She obviously wasn’t familiar with Pooka, if she was paying attention only to the warrior. He made a careful motion with his front paws, and-

“Wingardium Leviosa.” A flick of her wand sent Protea careening into a tree with a bone-jarring impact. Through his daze, he watched Delphinium drop low and creep toward the witch with nary a sound. Protea saw it a moment before it happened, the woman cocking her head and then flicking out with the wand. “Frigidus.” Ice crackled around Delphinium, binding him to the ground.

And then the witch stepped through the wild plants to take a look at her foes. She paused at the sight of Delphinium, one hand snapping to her mouth.

“Oh, dear,” she murmured. “You’re Pooka, aren’t you?”

And that was an interesting question. Protea stood up carefully, holding his paws up, pacifying, when the woman’s wand tracked toward him. Until recently, there’d only been one Pooka in the universe, and he’d been very fixed in his routine. “And where did you hear about Pooka?” Protea asked.

The woman shrugged. “Here and there. I honestly don’t remember, but the book said they’ve been lost for ages and ages. I never thought I’d see one.” She crept a little closer to Protea, grey eyes wide in fascination. She giggled abruptly, making Protea start at the sudden sound. The movement seemed to remind her of the other Pooka as she glanced back to where Delphinium still struggled to crack the thick bands of ice bonding him to the ground, and where Gladiolus lay, all but insensate.

“I...I’m quite sorry about that. I thought - well, you weren’t here to hurt me, were you?” the woman asked. There was something hesitant, wary about her question, and Protea knew she’d seen war, the danger around every corner.

“Nah,” Delphinium said. He tugged his head around and winked at the woman. “But I can see how you got the wrong idea when a bunch of rabbits started creeping around your garden.”

“Well.” She waved her wand, muttering, “Finite,” causing the ice to vanish, and allowing Gladiolus to struggle to her feet. She gave the woman a sharp glare as she hopped over to retrieve her sword, but Delphinium bounded to the woman’s side.

“In any case, I am Delphinium; this is Protea, and our good lady friend over there is Gladiolus. We do apologize for trespassing, although we weren’t entirely certain where we were going to land. Can I ask your name?”

“You may,” the woman replied, a faint blush on her cheeks. There was a moment of silence that stretched on a little too long; Protea resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he realized the reason for it.

“What is your name, ma’am?”

The woman glanced sidelong at him with a sly grin on her lips. “Luna.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's our first destination!

**Author's Note:**

> This is, in fact, the sequel to "Guardians: Rise"; I'm placing it as its own series because it's not a Jackrabbit story, like that one was, and feels a little self-indulgent, focusing mostly on OCs and crossovers. You probably should read that before this one, but I don't want people to look at this as a necessary adjunct to that one. If you find this isn't your cup of tea, just pretend I finished with Now and Forever and go on with your business.
> 
> As people have speculated, part of it is the story of Pitchiner's redemption, although that's going to take some time, and isn't going to remotely be a quick, fluffy thing. The rest, of course, is the Pooka gallivanting through the universe, righting wrongs, defeating great evils, and trying to make a Golden Age that lasts this time.
> 
> ... Obviously, they've got their work cut out for them. Hope y'all enjoy!


End file.
